Thoughts on Healing W/

Anointing Oil
By Christian Anarchist

I decided to tackle this subject since I

believe in the healing of ailments by the use of
prayer and oil. I attend a Baptist church where
we use Olive oil and on occasions, we perform
this sacrament as a means of hoping that God
offers the healing, rather it be supernatural or
leading the cause to be natural by means of
things like medicine. However, I can see that
some people would find this to be a strange
practice, so I thought I would at least shed some
light on the topic and offer a biblical
explanation.

The biblical basis for this particular practice

comes from James 5:14-16 which reads: Is any
sick among you? Let him call for the elders of
the church; and let them pray over him,
anointing him with oil in the name of the
Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the
sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he
have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.
Confess your faults one to another, and pray
one for another, that ye may be healed. The
effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man
availeth much. It is here we see that oil alone
will not heal somebody in this sacrament, but
rather the traditional sacrament of calling upon
the elders (bishops and deacons) to pray over
the person who needs healing while anointing
them with oil in the name of the Lord. We see
that right here we have a defense of the practice
from the bible from James (who was a bishop of
Jerusalem).

When I got inspired to write on this topic, I

was reading a systematic theology book entitled
Practical Christian Theology by Floyd H.
Barackman. Concerning the topic, he wrote the
following on the topic: A gospel believer who
is seriously ill may ask his or her pastor for
anointing, according to the teaching of James
5:14-16. This anointing with oil applies to
saved people who are hopelessly ill and who no
longer seem to have within them the power of
recovery (1). So obviously this practice is not
going to really apply to those who are nonbelievers, but it is limited as a church sacrament
practice. Based on this, nobody should go grab
olive oil and go around to random people in
hopes to heal them with the oil and prayer on
the streets. If this were the case, wed have
some interesting healing power for medics in
hospitals and on the battlefields of war.
However, there is one thing that Barackman
notes about the practice: Anointing with oil

does not gurantee recovery, but it appears to be

the formal commitment of the sick person to
God for healing according to the divine will
(2). So do not expect healing to always be
there at the moment because it might take time
since it has to be according to Gods will.
Sometimes, God doesnt even grant healing.
Finally, Barackman says the following in
regards to this: It is not always Gods will to
heal (2 Cor. 12:8-9) or to heal immediately (2
Tim. 4:20). Because illness is sometimes due
to unjudged sins (1 Cor. 11:28-31), the sick
person should examine his heart and deal with
any known sin in his life (James 5:15-16) or in
his relations with other people (Matt. 5:23-24)
by repentance and confession to God (Rev.2:5;
1 John 1:9) (3). So sometimes, the healing will
take time or it will not be there at all. Does this
mean that the prayer or oil was in vain? Not at
all if I must say so.

So in conclusion, this is a sacrament that

should be treated with respect since it not only
has been in use since the early apostolic church,
but that when we examine the bible, it provides
clear justification of a proper representation of
Christians. From what I can remember, the oil
that is used is meant to be a symbol of the Holy
Spirit who is dwelling in the Lords people. This
idea of the Holy Spirit indwelling us believers
can be found in James 4:5 and 1 John 3:24. The
praying we do is simply us displaying our
expression of faith in the Lord and his ability to
heal however he pleases. This thought is able to
be found in Ephesians 3:20. So now you know a
bit about the sacrament and hopefully if you
want, can convince your church to partake in
this sacrament. Just try not to be too forceful
with it and at least ask your pastor or deacons
about possibly putting the idea on the table for a
vote. If your church is going to participate in the

sacrament, they should at least have a fair say

so.

Sources and Citations

1.) Barackman, Floyd H. Practical Christian
Theology. Old Tappan, NJ: Fleming H.
Revell, 1984.
2-3.) Ibid.